Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1887-06-28
HONEY By THE TON.

vhefe there IL no, arabic soil enough 10
repay cultivation. but whore Wild flowers
grow In profu.ion. As a consequence
the life Of bee keeper Is sp, TO be .
lonely one. although the location OF bis
home Is, In almos, every instance. pie'ur..
esque in the extreme. The majority Of
,hc.e engaged in the bushes. are men
who have come here for their health. aud
find ia the keeping Of bees just that light
outdoor occupation which IL most eon'
dueive TO the cure Of many complaints
Two kind. Of bee, are found here. the
ordinary black variety and the Italian.
The latter are for many reasons the more
20 be desired. and by az interesting pro-
cess. too long TO be described here. the
black bees are being gradually iialianit'
,d. The hive. generally used sre two
stories, each consisting Of box about
rs inches square. with dozen OF 30 OF
frames occupying It's interior. These
frames are intended To be filed with
combs. Those in the lower story are Tor
the brood. or rearing Of young bees. AZ
|, is desirable TO liz these francs coca.
sionally. IL IL necessary that The combs
should be perfectly straight. In order
10 make them 30 a curious process !. re-
sorted TO. A machine looking very much
like the "eIimper." seen 10 laandriss. Is
used. but i,s brass rollers. instead OF be-
log flaied. have little projections al over
the surface shaped like the wax at the
bottom Of the cells in honeyeomb. A
thin sheet Of wax j. passed between these
rollers, AID comes out on the other eide
entirely covered with these ind n,ion'.
Tki. sheet. which !. called comb foands.
ton, il then fastened with little melted
wax into frame and when all the frames
are supplied they are put in the hives.
When swarm Of bees leaves hive u Is
at once pa, into one furnished with frames
Of formulation. and Immediately goes
to work on the prepared wax. In avsry
,hor, time il il in readiness for storing
honey and brood.
The bee keeper examines the hives
from time 10 time. and as soon As the
frames are al filled with brood and honey
be puts another box jas, like IL on top
Of the filed hive. The bees then pass
into this and soon al !, also with honey.
Watch Is kept. and as soon as the combs
.re full. and the bees have covered the
cells over with VAL. the frames ATE taken
out carefully aud carried TO the honey
house close by.
Here !. a very peculiar machine. CALI
ell en- extractor. I, Is large sheet iron
o. wooden tank. on the top u which !. 4
crank and some cog wheels. Inside !. =
square basket. made Of wire netting.
which !. fastened 10 pivo. At the bot.
tom Of the tank. ana 10 tie crank a. the
top. The bee keeper now taxes one OF
the frame. full Of honey, aud. with a
quserly shaped knife. having a very ,hin
blade. be shave. off AZ one stroke al the
esppings over the cells Of the comb.
Thi. knife il kept warn. 90 that only
very little Of the wax is,aken of. -Four
frames are thu. treated. and then they
are pa, into the square wire basket in the
tank. one on each side. with the unespPed
cells on the outside. The crank Is then
turned few ,imes. and the blske, re-
volv,. very rapidly. AL the honey Ia
the cells Is thrown on, into the tank by
centrifugal force. and is then drawn OF
into barrel. aud cans. Nothing but The
empty cell. i. leit and the frame Is then
put back In the hive FOR the bees TO all
Up again. Some,im,s they will do this
in lee. than week. aud when The bee
keeper has from 90 to 100 hives, . i
usually the case. !, takes about all hi'
time 10 10 from hive TO hive and take the
honey from them. The amount Of honey
gathered by swarm 10 good season Is
astonishing. |, !. no, unusual 10 get
500 or 100 pounds in summer. add
there are cases where the yield ha. gone
a. high as coo pounds.
The be keeper. however. does 10, se'
a very high price for bis honey. lie i
well con,en, Il he receives four or five
cent. a pound Some Of the bee keepers
use the little wooden section boxes with
which every one il familiar. ba, wher
,hi. !. done no, nearly 90 much honey
will be secured. though i, will sell fol
fully twice as much s the extracted.
There /. one enemy the Caliiorni, bee
keeper has 10 guard ayains, that bis
Eastern brother knows nothing about
This /. the grirrly bear Bruin is verl
fond Of young calves and colts, aud think
nothing Of eating two or three ,ende
lamb. by way Of an appetizer In the morn
ing Besides this. be has very sweet
tooth. and the amount Of honey and bee
,h., be will eat fdr lunch j. surprising
A bear will make light Of demolishins
half dozen hives in . nigh, deyourin.
all their contents. A neighbor Of ,h'
writers found one morning that danng
the night bear had come down from the
mountains close by. All that was LEFT
Of four or FIVE hives was q lot Of ehewet
up sticks hardly f, for kindling wood,
lie filed large milk pan with some yer.
tempting honey. highly seasoned viii
strychnine. and put Il close up 10 the gar
in the fence by which the bear bad enter
ed. Mex, nigh, the bear returned viii
two companions. When they reaches
the broken fence. there Wa. the hone!
all ready for them. and !, did no, TAX
them long to dispose Of IL. Ba, soon 81
ter swallo~ins the dslicaey they los, Al
in,eres, 10 honey and started on search
for water. Next morning when the kline
and ,hough,fal bee keeper opened hi
door there lay three grizzlies near The